Outerwear Garments for Use with Child Safety Seats

ABSTRACT

In some embodiments, a hood and outerwear garments with single attachment points for children wearing coats in car safety seats are disclosed. In some embodiments, the outerwear garment is comprised of a winter bonnet having an insulated lining and a single attachment point at the upper anterior portion of a coat. In some embodiments, the single anterior attachment prevents the hood from being inadvertently lodged behind a child—potentially limiting the safety seat&#39;s ability to secure the child. An object of some embodiments is to prevent a hood from interfering with car safety seat restraint systems.

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/660,394, filed on Apr. 20, 2018, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The disclosure relates to outerwear garments. More specifically, it relates to children's coat hoods and outerwear garments compatible with car safety seats.

BACKGROUND

Outer garment hoods have been worn for centuries and can be traced back to medieval monks in Europe. In 1885, U.S. Pat. No. 314,660 was one of the first inventions to incorporate a hood onto a coat with snap hooks in the collar. Later in the early 1900s, the industry saw the introduction of a hood attached to a sweatshirt in the United States. In 1935, U.S. Pat. No. 2,002,955 was granted to Lipson and disclosed a hood affixed to a collared jacket with a zipper. In 1939, U.S. Pat. No. 2,160,682 was granted to Silber who disclosed a combination coat and hood for rainwear. In 1945 U.S. Pat. No. 2,370,158 was granted to Israel and teaches of a combination trench coat with a hood. In 1948 U.S. Pat. No. 2,439,382 was granted to De Grala and disclosed a field jacket with a hood folded into a collar. As new fasteners, insulation and textiles emerged in the 1980s; hoods remained an integral part of active outerwear. While hoods have evolved over the centuries, no hoods were found in the prior art specifically designed to be compatible with child safety seats.

SUMMARY

The device herein disclosed and described provides a solution to the shortcomings in the prior art through the disclosure of outerwear garments and a hood for children's coats that are compatible with car safety seats. In some embodiments a method for safely and comfortably placing a child in a car seat while wearing a hooded jacket/coat is disclosed. Conventional coats have hoods that are usually affixed at several points along a back collar of a coat. When a parent secures a child wearing a hooded coat into a car safety seat, the hood can fall behind the child's head. As the parent adjusts the restraints of the safety seat, the hood can cause a child to be pushed forward and may impair the parent's ability to cinch restraints properly and potentially placing the child at risk. In some embodiments, a hood and outerwear garment is disclosed that does not interfere with a car safety seat. In some embodiments, an anterior attachment point allows a hood that is not in use to hang in front of a child preventing it from being lodged between the child's back and the safety seat.

In some embodiments, a child's comfort while wearing a coat in a safety seat is enhanced. In some instances, an overheated child in a car seat can push a conventional hood off their head causing it to lodge behind their neck causing discomfort against the restraints inadvertently. In some disclosed embodiments an unused hood is allowed to hang down in front of a child and out of the way, subsequently maintaining a child's comfort.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein and form a part of the specification, illustrate some, but not the only or exclusive, examples of embodiments and/or features.

FIG. 1 shows a front view of an embodiment of a hood on a coat.

FIG. 2 shows a rear view of an embodiment of a hood on a coat.

FIG. 3 shows a perspective view of an embodiment of a hood being used on a coat in a safety seat.

FIG. 4 shows a child outerwear garment according to the prior art and as further disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 9,498,007.

FIG. 5 shows a front view of an alternative embodiment of a hood on a child's outwear garment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Upon reading this disclosure, those skilled in the art will recognize various means for carrying out these intended features of various embodiments disclosed herein. As such, it is to be understood that other methods, applications and systems adapted to the task may be configured to carry out these features and are therefore considered to be within the scope and intent of this disclosure. With respect to the above description, before explaining at least one preferred embodiment in detail, it is to be understood that the disclosure is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangement of the components in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The embodiments herein described are capable of other variations and of being practiced and carried out in various ways which will be obvious to those skilled in the art. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. The objects features, and advantages of the disclosed embodiments, as well as the advantages thereof over existing prior art, which will become apparent from the description to follow, are accomplished by the improvements described in this specification and hereinafter described in the following detailed description, but should not be considered as placing limitations thereon.

Aspects of the disclosed embodiments shall be more readily understood when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, and the following detailed description, neither of which should be considered limiting.

In this description, the directional prepositions of up, upwardly, down, downwardly, front, back, top, upper, bottom, lower, left, right and other such terms refer to the device as it is oriented and appears in the drawings and are used for convenience only; they are not intended to be limiting or to imply that the device has to be used or positioned in any particular orientation. For purposes of this description a hood consists of a left and right side, a bonnet portion, and a collar portion (near the wearers chin).

FIG. 1 shows a front view of an embodiment of a hood (1) on a coat (3). FIG. 1 also shows one side of the hoods collar (Left hand side hood collar attachment) attached (2) to the coat (3) on the upper chest area of the coat, this left hood collar attachment can be through any attachment means, including but not limited to sewn on to the coat, a snap on, Velcro, or zipped, or buttoned. The right hand collar side of the hood has an attachment means (5) and can attach to the coat when the hood is being worn, so that both the right and left side of the collar of the hood are secure to the coat.

FIG. 2 shows a rear view of an embodiment of the hood (1) up and being worn on the coat (3). When the hood is in this configuration the back collar of the hood attaches to the back neck area of the coat through attachment means such as described herein.

In some embodiments, the left collar hood attachment can require a greater force to detach the left side of the hood from the coat relative to the amount of force needed to detach the right side of the hood from the coat, or vice versa. For example, the left side hood collar attachment can be sewn-on to the coat while the right side hood collar attachment attaches magnetically to the coat, or vice versa. In other embodiments, the left side hood collar attachment uses a button/loop attachment mechanism while the right side hood collar attachment utilizes magnets, or vice versa.

FIG. 3 shows a hood and outerwear garment being used in a car safety seat (4). The coat (3) is being worn by a child while the hood is removed from the back of the child's head (6) and the right hand collar attachment (5) is attached to the front of the coat location of the left hand collar attachment (2). This allows the hood (1) to hang in front of the child and not to be lodged between the child and the safety seat (4). It should be noted that, in some embodiments, both the right and left hand sides of the collar attachment can be identical and the hood could be attached to the front of the coat on either side.

Optionally, the coat or outwear garment may comprise one or more front panels, as more fully described and set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 9,498,007, which is incorporated by reference as though fully set forth herein. As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 9,498,007, and further illustrated in FIG. 4, a child's outerwear garment 100 can comprise a, detachable front panel 110 that is attached to rear portion 120 of garment 100 by fasteners 130. Fasteners 130 may be any fastener known in the art including, but not limited to, clasps, hooks, snaps, buttons, zippers, Velcro™, or any combination thereof.

It is particularly important that front panel 110 be detachable from rear portion 120 high up on the shoulders 140 of garment 100, in order that the advantages of the invention may be fully realized. It is removal of front panel 110 all the way to shoulders 140 that allows a car seat harness to be properly and safely secured over a child wearing garment 100, as this removal prevents the puffing and bunching at the shoulder that prevents the car seat harness from being properly and safely used with conventional outwear garments at the front panel(s) are selectively fastenable to one or more shoulder region(s) of the remaining body of the coat to facilitate a child being properly restrained in a car seat.

The rear portion 120 of garment 110 is shown as having optional sleeves 121. When garment 100 is used in the winter sleeves 121 are useful for warmth, but may be dispensed with in the summer. Garment 100 as shown in FIG. 4 further has an optional collar 150 and center fastener 160. Optional center fastener 160 may be any type of fastener known in the art including, but not limited to, clasps, hooks, snaps, buttons, zippers, Velcro™, or any combination thereof. Use or non-use of optional collar 150 and center fastener 160 is a decision based on comfort, style, and utility of the outerwear garment.

FIG. 5 shows an alternative embodiment of a hood 1 on an outerwear garment 100 comprising a panel 110. Fasteners 2 and 5 are used to fasten the left hand and right hand side of the hood 1 to the left hand and right hand sides of the panel 110, respectively.

In some embodiments, one side of the panel 110 is sewn on to the outwear garment 100, whereas the other side of the panel 110 is selectively detachable using fasteners such as buttons, Velcro, magnets, etc. In such embodiments, one of the fasteners (2 or 5) will attach to the side of the panel 110 that is sewn on to the outerwear garment 100, whereas the other of the fasteners (2 or 5) will attach to the side of the panel 110 that is selectively detachable from the outwear garment 100. In such a circumstance, the fastener (2 or 5) that attaches to the sewn on side of the panel 110 can be configured to require a smaller force for detachment from the panel 110, relative to the amount of force needed to detach the other fastener (2 or 5) from the panel 110. Advantageously, this attachment configuration would allow the entire assembly of the hood 1 and panel 110 to be rolled and tucked away on one side of the child while the child is utilizing the safety seat. Additionally, in this particular embodiment, because the hood 1 is sewn on to the detachable side of the panel 110, in order to properly restrain the child in the child safety seat by opening the detachable side of the panel 110 and moving the panel 110 away from the child's chest area, this particular attachment configuration requires the hood 1 to be removed in order for the hood/panel assembly to clear the child's head. As a result, this particular configuration serves as a failsafe to ensure that the hood is removed prior to restraining the child in the car seat.

A hood for use with an outwear garment is thus described. The invention is defined by the claims and their full scope of equivalents. 

I claim:
 1. An outer garment to be worn by a child to facilitate their safety in an automobile safety seat, the garment comprising: a hood for being worn on the child's head, the hood comprising a fastener for engaging with a mating fastener located on the front chest area of a coat; wherein at least a portion of the rear area of the hood is configured to selectively engage with at least a portion of the rear collar area of the coat.
 2. The outer garment of claim 1 wherein the fastener comprises a loop and the mating fastener comprises a button.
 3. The outer garment of claim 1, wherein the at least a portion of the rear area of the hood is configured to selectively disengage with the at least a portion of the rear collar of the coat when the fastener is selectively engaged with the mating fastener.
 4. The outer garment of claim 1, wherein the at least a portion of the rear area of the hood is configured to clear the uppermost area of the child's head when the fastener is selectively engaged with the mating fastener.
 5. The outer garment of claim 1, wherein the fastener is configured to apply a force sufficient to cause the at least a portion of the rear area of the hood to clear the uppermost area of the child's head when the fastener is selectively engaged with the mating fastener.
 6. The outer garment of claim 1, wherein the coat further comprises a rear shoulder fastener configured to selectively engage with a mating rear shoulder fastener disposed on the rear shoulder area of the coat, wherein the coat is configured to allow the child to be properly secured in the car seat while the coat is being worn and the rear shoulder fastener and the mating rear shoulder fastener are selectively disengaged.
 7. The outer garment of claim 1, wherein the fastener is configured to apply a force sufficient to cause the at least a portion of the rear area of the hood to clear the uppermost area of the child's head when the fastener is selectively engaged with the mating fastener and the child is properly secured in the car seat while the coat is being worn and the rear shoulder fastener and the mating rear shoulder fastener are selectively disengaged.
 8. The outer garment of claim 1, wherein the fastener and the mating fastener are selected from the group consisting of Velcro, magnets, buttons, and loops.
 9. The outer garment of claim 1, wherein the fastener comprises a unitary structure.
 10. An outer garment to be worn by a child to facilitate their safety in an automobile safety seat, the garment comprising: a body member comprising a longitudinal fastener disposed along a longitudinal edge of the body member, a shoulder fastener disposed along a shoulder region of the body member, and a first hood fastener; a front panel comprising a mating longitudinal fastener disposed along a longitudinal edge of the front panel and a mating shoulder fastener disposed along a shoulder region of the front panel; a hood coupled to the front panel and comprising a mating first hood fastener configured to selectively fasten to the first hood fastener; wherein the longitudinal fastener is configured to selectively fasten to the mating longitudinal fastener and the shoulder fastener is configured to selectively fasten to the mating shoulder fastener; wherein the front panel is configured to allow the longitudinal edge and shoulder region of the front panel to be separated from the longitudinal edge and shoulder region of the body when the longitudinal fastener, mating longitudinal fastener, shoulder fastener, and mating shoulder fastener are fully disengaged.
 11. The outer garment of claim 1, wherein the front panel further comprises a second hood fastener and the hood further comprises a mating second hood fastener.
 12. The outer garment of claim 11, wherein the hood and the front panel are separable.
 13. The outer garment of claim 1, wherein the front panel is configured to transfer to the hood force sufficient to disengage the first hood fastener from the mating first hood fastener when the longitudinal fastener, mating longitudinal fastener, shoulder fastener, and mating shoulder fastener are fully disengaged.
 14. The outer garment of claim 1, wherein the front panel is configured to transfer to the hood force sufficient to displaced the hood away from the head region of a child wearing the hood, when the longitudinal fastener, mating longitudinal fastener, shoulder fastener, and mating shoulder fastener are fully disengaged.
 15. The outer garment of claim 1, wherein the front panel is configured to transfer to the hood force sufficient to displace the hood away from the shoulder region of a child wearing the hood, when the longitudinal fastener, mating longitudinal fastener, shoulder fastener, and mating shoulder fastener are fully disengaged.
 16. The outer garment of claim 1, wherein the longitudinal fastener is selected from a group consisting of Velcro, magnets, buttons, and loops.
 17. The outer garment of claim 1, wherein the first hood fastener comprises a plurality of fastening elements.
 18. The outer garment of claim 1 wherein the longitudinal edge of the body is located on a second front panel.
 19. The outer garment of claim 1, wherein the outer garment permits a child to be properly restrained in an automobile safety seat without fully separating the hood from the outer garment.
 20. A coat and hood configuration comprising: a coat with a removable hood having an left hand side of the hood collar attached to the front chest of the coat through attachment means and a right side of the hood collar attached to the left font of the chest of the coat through attachment means.
 21. The coat and hood configuration of claim 21 further comprising: both hood collar attachments attaching to the corresponding sides of the coat's front chest area and the back of the hood collar being attached to the back neck area of the coat when the hood is configured in the wearing position.
 22. The coat and hood configuration of claim 21 further comprising: the right hand hood collar and the left hand hood color being both attached on the right hand side of the coats chest area.
 23. A method allowing a child to be safely and comfortably restrained in a car safety seat comprising: attaching through attaching means the left hand collar of a hood to the front chest area of a coat, removing the right hand attachment of hoods collar, removing the hood attachment from behind the child's head and neck area, attaching through attaching means the right hand collar of a hood to the let hand collar's attachment location on the front of the coat, draping the hood down the front of the coat.
 24. The method of claim 23 further comprising; attaching and draping the hood in on the front right side of the coat. 